The author of this opinion piece, aka âweev,â was found guilty last week of computer intrusion for obtaining the unprotected e-mail addresses of more than 100,000 iPad owners from AT&Tâs website, and passing them to a journalist. His sentencing is set for February 25, 2013.
Right now thereâs a hacker out there somewhere producing a zero-day attack. When heâs done, his âexploitâ will enable whatever parties possess it to access thousands â even millions â of computer systems.

But the critical moment isnât production â itâs distribution. What will the hacker do with his exploit? Hereâs what could happen next: